Three Choices

In 2 Samuel 24 we read about the Prophet Gad who came to David at the height of his reign in Israel. Although Israel was enjoying prosperity, and were probably their most religious, the people of God behaved badly, and God used David to chasten the nation, at which point David let his anger override his better judgment, and soon both David and Israel were under judgment. Gad told David that he had three choices (verse 13): three years of famine, three months of being pursued by his (David's) enemies, or three days of pestilence. None of the options were very palatable. That's why it is called judgment. 
The goal of judgment is not punishment but repentance; to turn back to the Lord and seek his face. David's very wise answer, after a great deal of prayer was, verse 14, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” The three days of pestilence that followed was very severe, but when the three days ended so did the pestilence. Then David built an altar and offered up sacrifice and plead for himself and for his people to be forgiven, and the plague was averted. There was a great deal of loss over those three days but David knew that if they landed in the hands of men they may never recover, but if they landed in the hands of God and repented that they would recover, when they turned to God, and he would give them mercy.  

In this election cycle (2016) I have seen and heard many express their dismay at our choices for President. They fear the bombastic behavior of Trump and his reality show campaign. They distrust Hillary and believe that everything will be up for sale to the highest bidder. And when they look at Johnson, not only do they not believe he has a chance, but they question his ability, his policies, and feel that there is no significant difference in his policies from the other two. He equally lacks credibility, and moral authority, as much as the other two. What is an American to do? Do we vote on party lines? Do we vote for the lesser of two evils? Do we lodge a protest vote? Do we stay home and refuse to participate in a system that seems to be rigged, and that increasingly does not represent the people? 

Or does it? 

In this chapter of our society, as we rail against our political fiasco, and question how, out of 330 Million people, we could end up with this handful of people to choose from, maybe its time to take stock of how we got here? Look at what a mess our society seems to be in: The racial strife, the political climate is hateful, and we must guard our every word for fear that someone MIGHT be offended, not because they actually care about each other, but out of fear of becoming the next target on social media. Our society has become so ready to vilify anyone and everyone. So then, our reflection needs to be, have we reaped what we have sown? Who would want to lead this mess? It looks like some kind of disturbing reality show. 

Enter our three choices for President: One doesn't even really have a chance, the other two, well one of them will be our next president. I have heard all the arguments about what each one will do. I'll be honest, I don't believe either of them. Today, my prayer is like that of King David in 2 Samuel 24.14 “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”    

If you're not a Christian than this post is probably of little value to you, but to every Christian, my plea is to consider that we are under judgment, reaping what we have sown as a nation. It is time for us to lay down our agendas, our political ideologies, and pray. Pray for mercy, and to fall into the hands of God, rather than the hands of men. 

Well! Aren't We Just So Spiritual

It has become a popular buzz-word like phrase to say: I am a spiritual person not a religious person. When I first heard it I liked the phrase  because the real definition of religion means what we do regularly, and spiritual spoke to me of being a person led by the spirit of God. Sadly, it soon became clear to me that what people really meant was some kind of private warm-fuzzy emotions associated with supernatural events and religious cultures. There is nothing wrong with that except that it really obfuscates (confuses) the subject. (I couldn’t leave that one alone). 

When I said that I was a spiritual person, what I meant was that I was living my life by the Spirit of God rather than something else (religious practice, carnality, etc). The concept of being spiritual meant that I was trying to live my life so that I would be full of love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. These are what the Bible call the evidence of being spiritual or the fruit of the Spirit. The list does not sound very supernatural but the evidence does speak for itself. If you live like that no one will be surprised to find out that you are a spiritual person even if you never talk about supernatural beings or events. 

So what evidence do those around you see of your being a spiritual person? 

Success!

One of the most fundamental issues of life is success. How do we define it, how do we achieve it, and how do we measure it. And then, what do we do when we succeed or fail. It is all too easy to over-spiritualize the discussion and to say that we don’t need success or to call it an idol, but the truth is that we all need to hear, “Well done good and faithful servant.” If God thinks we need to hear that, my bet is that we really do need confirmation and a measure of success. The Psalmist wrote that hope deferred makes the heart sick but a dream realized is a tree of life.

So how do we measure success? Well, Jesus once indicated that his measure for life was to do just what the Father in Heaven was doing. That sounds simple but it is really profound. The measure of Jesus life was to do just what the Father was doing. Now we might be tempted to think, well Jesus doesn’t sack groceries, see patients, or teach school kids math, but a very wise man named Sam Logan once said it this way: Find out what God wants you to do– and do it!

There is nothing more empowering to your life than that. It removes what you are doing, from under the microscope of other people’s opinion and puts us into the place of disciple of Jesus. What every disciple of Jesus needs is to sense that when they lay their head down at the end of the day, they did at work, school, and with friends and family, just what God wanted them to do. That is success. What does God want you to do today?